The FAMU-TSU Atlanta Classic - Day Minus 1

Thursday...Dateline - The Hennesey Event.

What if you gave away free top shelf liquor, free gourmet food, and hot new entertainment and nobody came? It looked like it for a moment, when I bopped into the event and lo and behold it was nearly EMPTY. The little girls in sundresses were stopping me when I had a drink in hand to ask if I wanted another. The bartender was pouring the drinks so strong I had to ask her to lighten it up a bit. Okay it started at nine, which was little funny, and ended after midnight on a week night... but the kind of folks they invited were the kind that could call it in on Friday if need be.

Funny moment this cutie in a black lace dress makes eye contact with me for few seconds, I smile back and tell her that her man is very lucky...you should have seen this dress...and even as lean back this dread locked brother steps in. I'm not paying attention but I look back that way a few minutes he's got his celly out getting numbers...oh kay. I don't say anything, it's not my place, I don't even know her. But we make eye contact a few minutes later and apparently she felt she had to explain herself. She comes over and tells me it's not what I think. I assure her I have an open mind, and ask her the question I ask all women..."Are you happy?". Oddly she then asked me my sign. Maybe I should have asked her age.

From there with the crowd looking considerably better, after Chrisette Michele performed, I breezed over to Leopard Lounge.

And the girl told me it was $20 to get in if I didn't want to wait in line.

Pay money? To get in the Leopard on a Thursday? Or stand in a line? Are you fookaying kidding me? I had to go to work the next morning....actually, be on the track the next morning...so I demurred.

It feels good to be back in stride...

I skipped Shout (which I heard was horrible), the Grape (I didn't need to see everybody the first day), Noir (it was that or the Hennessy thang) and Verve (which I also understand was light, but it was Thursday..Friday is there night.)

Barkeep, get me some gin and tang...I'm feeling frisky.

The start of something big.

If you go out in Atlanta, you generally want to go the hot spot. The spot where everyone is or wants to be. The place where everybody wants to see and be seen. Where there is a line of folks waiting to be part of the IN crowd.

I generally have been there and am gone long before that.

I did Fridays at the W for Jazz before you couldn't breathe up in the spot.
I did Twist before they started charging.
I did Compound when the original promoters made Friday's hot.

Old School Saturdays? Back when they could have it in a restaurant.
Leopard Lounge? First time I went they had twenty folks.
Verve? They hadn't even finished construction.
Strip? Back when you could move.
Barleys? Before they put the band in on Fridays..
The Mark? Two club names ago...

Don't get me wrong some of my haunts never made it, some stayed on the low, others are still threating to blow up.

Why is that? Why do I get there like the advance scout team? I want to say it's because I'm always on the cutting edge, looking for the next great hangout or spot, ahead of the curve in style and fashion. But...

...that's not true.

I guess I'm just adventurous. I've been to Atlanta's Latin Clubs, Rock Clubs, Swing Clubs (the sex swinging), the Blues Clubs, and I guess I've just gotten lucky. I tend to like a spot before it gets crazy. Or rather before people show up expecting it be crazy, which is a whole different group from the people who come to have a good time and crazy things happen.

It's tough to explain.

Which spot is next? I couldn't tell you.

Barkeep, I'll need the Knob Creek, with just a dash of spite. Don't bruise it.

Atlanta - PreNYE

Well, as the new year approaches I find myself in the middle of a three day parley - Friday, Saturday - Sunday. It would have been a four day swing, but I opted not to go to Leopard Lounge (Midtown) on Thursday night so I could rest up.

And I should have gone. A young lady I met Saturday told me she as at the Leopard on Thursday with a skirt on so short she had to take care to walk, bending wasn't even an option. It's funny, Atlanta Magazine wrote up the Thursday night and now the odd white couple will wander in and look confused. When I took Bait that time, even on a slow night his fresh from North Carolina ass was impressed as hell.

But I digress. Friday was at the Verve Lounge (Downtown-ish) for it's Casino themed Pre-NYE party. The room was so excited you might have imagined it was real money they were playing for. I left there and slipped out to a private function at Carbo's Cafe (Buckhead). A slightly older crowd, but free food and live music...and for the third year in a row Vernon Jones shook my hand and wished me a happy new year. These occasions are the only time I ever meet the man. I was supposed to head over to the new Esso (Decatur) after that but begged off.

Saturday was nice and simple, hung out with Sporty (all the women in my life now have nicknames starting with S - no reason) early and rolled into the Annual Pre-NYE Cocktail party I host every year. Very nice crowd this year, although when the guys with dreads smelling like weed and looking like sterotypical rappers started wandering in, I knew we'd gone long. Usually we "run out of cups" or "run out of alcohol" around one or so, and that way we can clean up and be done by three. This year we didn't close the bar until two thirty.

Nice tips though.

And tonight, if my old business partner ever shows up we're supposed to hit PURE NYE or if I can swing it a private little set down on the southside. Mansion party. Sweet.

Barkeep - Patrone, but with a lemon. I'm driving.

I used to be on the edge.

Let's see, in the last ten days I was invited to BED for cocktails and magazine launch (didn't go & I don't remember the magazine either), to a mansion party for William McCray's new TV show, Obnoxious (didn't go, forgot), a "soft" promotion for a club re-opening (it was slow), a hot Christmas party ( that Ruffin fella throws a party ), a private Christmas party on Saturday, the usual slew of club dates - Thursday at Django, Old School Saturdays, Red Tie at Einsteins, Barley's billiards live music or Friday, M Bar on Wednesdays, Urban Soul Cafe ...and countless NYE parties.

There was a time I would have hit nearly every thing listed here...okay, I might have missed one of the NYE parties.

I wish I could pass along the words of wisdom, but my new junior running partner, aptly nicknamed "Bait" is getting me back out there. I'm getting older and chasing them around the club has never been my thing, I need to draw them in to the sparkling personality. He's new to the ATL and seems to be stunned at how much is going on and where the truly live stuff is...for free.

As a side note, I usually don't pay for anything. Most nights in Atlanta, somebody somewhere is giving away the farm for free to put the word out, and since I'm hooked into the word I usually know about it. It's a vicious circle - you kinda have to be out to be able to get invited, but since they're only inviting folks who come out, they're really only moving the circle around. I'm used to a) complementary valet b) no cover - guest list c) free drinks d) free food e) hot,loose women and d) a complimentary gift bag for coming through.

Don't you wish you knew.

I think I'm ATL nightlife spoiled. Every party is hot or I know where the next one is. Or I've seen these chicks before, let's roll out. I've gotten to the age where all the phone numbers I didn't call back, women I ignored or whose name I forgot is starting to catch up with me. Atlanta is big but not that big.

I'm starting to see that familar edge in the distance...do I really want to go back?